1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to artwork illuminating master/museum quality frames to enhance the quality of wall mounted artwork originals and copies when displayed in a less than favorable light environment.
2. Description of Prior Art
Quality artwork in the form of original paintings, lithographic or other copies displayed in the home, office, or other locations are seldom illuminated to present the artwork as favorably as viewed in the art gallery. Impressions made on premium grade paper or premium artists canvas include artists' proofs, gallery proofs, studio proofs, masters' editions and commercial copies, to name a few. Nevertheless, some of the aura and refinement of these quality renditions is lost when viewed outside the gallery. Many galleries, displaying artwork for the consumers' evaluation, have dark walls and no windows to preclude daylight from diminishing the artistic presentation. Often spot. lighting is used to enhance the art, thus displaying it under the most favorable conditions. Further, dimmer controls are often provided to set the lighting on the artwork to the viewers' preference.
When the same artwork is displayed in an ambiance of different lighting conditions such as an office, home or other location, the art loses much of the aura displayed in the gallery. The lighting outside the gallery may have extreme variations upon the artwork both horizontally and vertically thus severely detracting from the intended original artistic rendition. To compensate for this, overhead lights, externally mounted to the frame, are occasionally used to improve the lighting of the artwork. However, this does not provide a uniform field of light and it also detracts somewhat from the artistic rendition intended. Another approach is to use a ceiling mounted spotlight, where practical. This approach throws a large beam of light onto the surrounding area as well as the picture. This is nominally acceptable but does little to restore the aura of the artwork as originally intended.
Inventors have created several types of illuminated picture frame apparatuses. U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,973 to Melzian , et. al. (1998) Describes an illuminated display with uniform luminescence using at least one elongated fluorescent bulb with a plurality of transparent plates arranged between the light source and a housing. Further, Melzian proposes using several transparent plates between which an image is mounted. This is completely contrary to the idea of illuminating quality artwork presented on premium grade paper or premium artists' canvas. Quality artwork is usually framed without any covering glass as exhibited in museums. U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,745 to Valentino (1993) discloses a continuous channel including a plurality of illumination bulbs in electrical communication with a battery and an on/off switch. However, no consideration is given to the power requirements of the plurality of bulbs versus battery capacity and life expectancy or to the circuitry for a greater or lesser number of bulbs. Further, considerable heat may be generated which, over time, can adversely affect the quality of the artwork. No protection is offered against electrical shorting or bulb burnout to effect maximum utilization time between servicing.
U.S. Patent Application Publication U.S. 2004/02269 A1, Ayala, has a light source(item 20) within the artwork frame (item 10) in front of the artwork (item 40) as shown in FIG. 3 of the application. The heat from the light source in front of the artworkcan have a very deleterious effect upon the artwork over time, while using LED's in the same manner would project an axial beam of light onto the artwork deviating from the original intent.
Ayala's claim 1, third line down, reads . . . at least one light source located in front of the image located within the frame structure . . . .
Ayala's claim 5 reads . . . the light source from claim 1 wherein the light emitting source Is selected from a group consisting of LED′S , incandescent lights . . . etc.
My invention, using high intensity miniature lights places the light source below the artwork in a light pocket between the stretch frame and master/museum frame when the light director is positioned in the frame and the artwork is nestled in the light director.(FIG. 3) The light is projected onto the artwork by the light director. Virtually no heat reaches the artwork from the light director.(FIG. 1)